1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to infrared transceivers used for communication between devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Infrared transceivers are used for communication applications between devices such as portable computers, handheld personal digital assistant products such as “Palm Pilot” devices, cellular telephones, printers, organizers, calculators and other portable devices. For these applications, size, cost and operating speed are of paramount concern.
Current state of the art infrared transceivers typically use an integrated circuit (IC) which controls a light-emitting diode (LED). Light emitted by the LED travels over free space and is coupled by refractive optics to a PIN diode for detection. The IC chips are die attached, wire bonded either to a metal lead frame or an organic substrate printed circuit board (PCB), and encapsulated in plastic. The encapsulating plastic is often shaped into a lens for the LED and PIN diode detector.
As is known in the art, the use of light emitting diodes currently limits the data rate of the conventional transceiver to approximately 16 megabits per second (Mb/s). Unfortunately, for current applications, there is a need for transceivers capable of operating at higher data rates.
In addition, as mentioned above, size is also a critical factor for most IR transceiver applications. This, in turn, requires small components. However, efforts to reduce the size of conventional IR transceivers have been hampered by the need for refractive lenses to shape and direct the output beam.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a compact, low-cost infrared transceiver capable of operating at higher data rates relative to conventional infrared transceivers.